INDIANAPOLIS –Doug McDermott was the first move made in free agency by the Pacers, but the most significant one came Tuesday when Tyreke Evans came to terms with them on a one-year, $12 million deal, a league source confirmed to IndyStar.

At 6-6, Evans can play both backcourt positions as well as on the wing which gives the Pacers the versatility they were missing during last season's playoff run that ended in Game 7 vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers.

He averaged 19.4 points, 5.2 assists and shot 40 percent from 3 last season with Memphis.

Evans was NBA Rookie of the Year in 2010 with the Sacramento Kings but has fallen into a jack-of-all trades supporting role since then. He has gone from a full-time starter in his first four seasons to a supporting role off the bench.

In nine seasons, Evans has career averages of 16.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists.

Injuries have hampered Evans over the years. He appeared in 52 games last season, 40 the season before that and 25 in 2015-16. But he remade himself when he added the long ball.

After shooting 25.5, 29.1, 20.2, 33.8, 22.1 and 30.4 percent from 3 in his first six years, Evans re-invented himself.

The Pacers have been active at the wing position in free agency, signing McDermott and allowing Lance Stephenson and Glenn Robinson III to sign elsewhere.

They averaged 105.6 points per game during last season which was 17th-best in the league, a shade below the middle of the pack.

What it means on the court

Except for a brief stint with the New Orleans Pelicans, Evans has spent his career compiling numbers on bad teams as he can be an inefficient scorer.

The upside, however, is too great to pass up a chance to add him to a team where he's not tasked with having to be the leader or the best player.

Evans is a piece -- not a star that many assumed he'd be after winning Rookie of the Year -- and he can fill that role well behind Victor Oladipo at shooting guard.

One of the Pacers' biggest needs, aside from 3-point shooting to space the floor for Oladipo, is size in the backcourt. When they have to switch defensively, having a player Evans' size minimizes those disadvantages.

Also, Evans could push Bojan Bogdanovic for time on the wing or allow coach Nate McMillan to spread the floor with three-plus shooters at all times.

What it means off the court

With this being a short-term deal, the Pacers keep open their flexibility under the cap for next season when Evans, Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young, Darren Collison, Cory Joseph are among those coming off the books.

The 2019 free-agent class is much more attractive than 2018 with the likes of Karl-Anthony Towns, Kemba Walker, Nikola Vucevic, Nikola Mirotic, Marcus Morris possibly on the market.